Professional Activities
Conferences, Presentations, & Panels
Moderator for Betsey Stevenson's webinar, AI's Potential Impact on Labor Markets, 2023.
Presenter at JET's Symposium on Economics Teaching (SET), 2023.
EDUCATE workshop participant at AEA CTREE, 2023.
Poster presentation and discussant at the AEA Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education (CTREE), 2023. Poster PDF Discussant slides PDF
Attended McGraw Hill Economics for Everyone Symposium, 2023.
Presenter at EconEd, "Building Community in Principles of Economics class: Using peer collaboration and support to empower and engage students," 2022.
Presenter at Top Hat Engage, "Helping Students Thrive: Cultivating Community, Resilience, and Flexibility," 2022.
Panel participant at Women in Business Professor Panel, UGA, 2022.
Attended EconEd conference on Teaching Economics, 2021.
Attended Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education (CTREE), 2019.
Presenter at Midwest Economic Association (St. Louis, MO), "Gender Differences in Persistence in a Field of Study," 2019.
Instructor Resource Development
Created numerous online Decision Point Activities to accompany Stevenson and Wolfers' Principles of Microeconomics (second edition, ©2023).
Created official 'Instructor Resources: Lecture Slides' for Stevenson and Wolfers' Principles of Microeconomics (second edition, ©2023)
Select chapters:
Created official 'Instructor Resources: Lecture Slides' for Stevenson and Wolfers' Principles of Macroeconomics (second edition, ©2023)
Publications & Working Papers
Journal of Human Capital, 17(4): 503–556, 2023 (with Michael Kaganovich and Ruli Xiao )
Publication Link
Weaker retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is well documented, particularly in response to low grades. We explore mechanisms underlying gender gaps in persistence across the spectrum of fields using an Indiana University dataset. We decompose these gaps into components attributable to student taste for field and the importance attached to grades there. We find that women’s weaker preference for field is predominantly responsible for their weaker persistence. STEM-starting women are less averse to low grades than are men but have weaker taste for STEM, resulting in lower retention. Relaxation of grading standards in STEM will have little effect on women’s inferior retention.